I think that the markings on the Typhoon are dreadful and display a lack of proper investment in time and money. How is it that other NATO nations manage to achieve such a high standard for their aircraft paint designs and finishes. I know that the RAF does have somewhere, hidden away, some talented graphic designers who could do the aircraft justice. If this is what the RAF wants to display around the world on it's No1 Fighter aircraft, then I am disappointed.
Well, for starters the RAF don't have painters and finishers anymore, thus the work is contracted out to SERCO thus will cost extra. Also the rules for special markings have to be approved at CinC Air Command level after going though a number of hoops including a working group who's role is to approve camouflage schemes. Also any aircraft that has more than a 25% repaint requires weighting and re-ballasting (if required) as the paint does actually have mass, which of course is now a depth maintenance function and again costs. You could of course totally ignore the rules as one Squadron did and paint an aircraft all over, which in the scheme done, was rumored to have overloaded the aircraft's environmental control systems due to the effects of absorption of more solar/aerodynamic heating (the Camouflage working group were aware of the problem, as it wasn't the first time that that type of scheme had been painted on that aircraft). It was also rumored to have put the aircraft massively out of limits on center of gravity and that wasn't picked up until after it have been flown a few times.
Yes, there are RAF personnel that can do this type of stuff, the best example was this one (which I did play a part in, as it was my Jaguar drawing computer file on which the basic scheme layout was designed (and the original draft schemes looked nothing like what was finally painted). 6 Sqn had to get outside sponsorship to paint it though (and a couple of painters from a certain car company).
